


Conditional

by youcouldmakealife



Series: Impaired Judgment (and other excuses) [85]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 05:24:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18772087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcouldmakealife/pseuds/youcouldmakealife
Summary: Maybe three people doesn’t count as a clique, and Chaz is super friendly to everyone — not to say Raf and Jared aren’t, Raf’s just reserved and…okay, Jared isn’t friendly — but he’s starting to get the appeal. They’re going to kick ass three-on-three.





	Conditional

It’s kind of awesome to walk into the first day of training with Chaz — Ashley’s got his car, so Jared gives him a ride in — and find Raf already there, predictably early. Also kind of awesome that Chaz gets the one armed shoulder slapping bro hug from Raf while Jared gets an actual hug hug. Petty? Maybe. Okay, almost definitely. Still, he spent a month attached at the hip to Raf, he’s glad to know a couple days at All-Stars didn’t let Chaz usurp him.

They stick together as the other guys come trickling and, and it’s kind of funny, because Jared’s never been a part of a clique before. He’s seen plenty of them, between school and teams, and they always seemed faintly ridiculous to him, but then, most things people do seem faintly ridiculous to him, so.

Maybe three people doesn’t count as a clique, and Chaz is super friendly to everyone — not to say Raf and Jared aren’t, Raf’s just reserved and…okay, Jared isn’t friendly — but he’s starting to get the appeal. They’re going to kick ass three-on-three.

Of course, he didn’t anticipate, well — the first time they’re told to break into pairs, Raf’s immediately at Jared’s side, and Jared looks over at Chaz nervously, not only because they’re leaving him out but because he was Jared’s literal liney, but Chaz doesn’t seem offended or thrown off, just grabs Welland, who he also apparently knows from somewhere. Chaz seems to know everyone from somewhere. It’s weird.

Jared walks out of day one with a ridiculously detailed schedule of stuff he’s supposed to do even when he’s not actively training — even his sleep schedule is laid out for him, though no way Jared is going to be up at six am, it’s not happening — and a nutrition plan more hardcore than any he’s ever had before, complete with a list of compliant recipes. No wonder Raf was hyped about this dude.

“Smash Bros?” Jared asks. It was a light day, but from the way Arvan laid out his plans from training, plus the ridiculously detailed customized schedules they have, Jared has a feeling that’s going to be a rarity, so he may as well get in hang out time while he has the energy for it.

“Sure,” Raf says. “Your place?” 

“Well,” Jared says, hesitating. “Chaz?”

“Ash’s sister and her boyfriend are staying with us, and every time I walk in the door they’re marathoning shit on Netflix,” Chaz says. 

“Grace has a study group over at our sublet right now,” Raf says when Jared looks over at him.

“We can probably do mine,” Jared says, pulling out his phone and texting Bryce with a _Is it cool if Chaz and Raf come over?_

_ok_ , Bryce texts back after a minute, and Jared examines it for a moment, trying to decide if those two letters imply a sulk, before mentally shrugging: he got the okay, he’ll take that as an okay. Bryce keeps insisting it’s his apartment too.

The second they get inside Chaz has already himself at home, kicking off his sneakers and wandering into their kitchen, and it’s funny, like — he’s been invited over by Jared a bunch of times, but he’s been invited by Bryce too at points when Jared hasn’t been home, and Jared hadn’t quite realised how often he’s been here until he’s yelling ‘where are the Molson?’, head stuck in Jared’s fridge.

“If there’s any left they’re at the bottom,” Jared says. “Also beer’s not in our nutrition guide.”

“Well, obviously,” Chaz says, coming back with a can of beer Jared doesn’t even recognise. Not that Jared’s like, a beer aficionado. He had maybe two of the last two-four Bryce bought, and that case lasted forever, since Bryce just has a beer or two with dinner once in awhile when he isn’t out with the team. Chaz probably had more of them than Jared did. “Tell BJ to pick some beer up on his way home.”

“Nope,” Jared says. 

Chaz shrugs, pulling out his phone, and presumably he tells Bryce himself, because when Bryce comes in the door, he does so with a case of Molson Canadian in his arms. Jared glares at Chaz, who completely ignores him to retrieve the beer.

“BJ,” Chaz says. “What up?”

“Hey,” Bryce says, “Guys.”

There was this little pause in there, like he was definitely considering singling out Raf with one of his special dark ‘Rafael’s, but rethought it. Maybe because Chaz is there, because obviously Bryce has no qualms about being ridiculous in front of Jared or Raf.

“Good to see you, Bryce,” Raf says, seeming completely unfazed. “Congrats on the engagement.”

There’s another little pause.

“Thanks,” Bryce says. “Raf.”

It is honestly pathetic how proud of Bryce Jared is right now. Pathetic.

“Wanna play winner?” Chaz asks.

“Okay,” Bryce says, perching on the arm of the couch beside Jared, and when Jared reluctantly hands over the controller after getting his ass kicked by Raf, Bryce takes it after pressing a kiss to his hair. It’s blink and you’d miss it quick, but he did it with Chaz and Raf literally right beside them, so Jared spends the next round beaming at the TV.

*

Jared is not wrong about Arvan riding them hard. Muscles Jared didn’t even know existed hurt at the end of the day sometimes, and if he puts anything less than one-hundred percent into anything they’re doing — drills, exercise, fucking stretching — Arvan is suddenly there, telling him he knows Jared can do better. He never seems to say it when Jared actually _can’t_ do better, which is kind of impressive.

Jared quickly gets pretty good at following the nutrition guide, because the look of disappointment on Arvan’s face when the answer to ‘what did you have for dinner last night?’ is ‘I got…Thai…delivered?’ is unspeakably awful. None of the recipes are exciting, exactly, but once Jared starts ignoring the seasoning instructions and adding actual flavour, they’re not bad. 

Bryce is over the moon about it, because the kind of meals that Jared needs to bulk up are exactly in line for what Bryce needs to stay, well — he’s not bulky, but Jared’s still a good ways away from the kind of weight Bryce has to throw around, so Jared quadruples everything the recipes call for and they still burn through it almost faster than he can cook, especially since he’s dead tired after training half the time.

Raf’s sublet has like, zero kitchen stuff, so he comes over on a day off and they take over the kitchen together, getting a week’s worth of food ready. Jared doesn’t actually mind cooking, but it’ll be nice to have the option to get home from training, stick something in the oven, and go veg on the couch with Bryce while it’s reheating. Bryce abandons them to go play video games at Chaz’s, and Jared’s judging them both, especially when they come over right after Raf heads out, asking for dinner with big eyes like they’ve never been fed in their lives. Bryce, Jared’s obviously fine feeding, but Chaz is a free-loader.

“You just go wherever food’s getting made and beg for something?” Jared asks. The last time Chaz was asked what he had for dinner he had an answer right out of the nutrition playbook, and now Jared’s wondering if it was a lie.

“Ash usually cooks, but she’s at her mom’s,” Chaz says, then puts his hands up when Jared presumably conveys his judgment. “She cooks, I do dishes and laundry. She’s way better at making shit edible, so it works out.”

Jared looks at Bryce.

“I do the laundry sometimes,” Bryce says weakly. “And the dishes.”

“Loading a dishwasher is not doing the dishes,” Jared says. He always seems to be the one emptying it; Bryce will just go grab something from it if he needs it, seems willfully oblivious to the fact that clean dishes belong in the cupboard. Jared’s pretty sure the house cleaner was the one emptying the dishwasher before Jared moved in. 

“I go to the dry cleaner!” Bryce says.

“Literally the only clothes that have to go to the dry cleaner are yours,” Jared says.

“You have suits that have to go!” Bryce says. “I get groceries!”

“Really?” Jared asks. “Ordering groceries online is getting groceries now?”

“Yeah, you guys seem ready for the altar,” Chaz says, and laughs when they both give him the finger. “Feed me, Jared Matheson, you’re my only hope to avoid Arvan’s wrath.”

Jared rolls his eyes. “Go get plates, I’m not doing everything for you.”

“Best,” Chaz says, hanging off Jared’s shoulders before he starts banging around their kitchen.

“I do dishes,” Bryce insists. 

“Uh huh,” Jared says. 

The next morning, their dishwasher is miraculously empty. Jared could puncture the ridiculously smug expression on Bryce’s face, but it’s probably best to reward good behaviour, so he makes him breakfast instead.

*

Jared will maybe admit that Bryce was right about training being worth the money. Between the meal plans, the schedule he mostly follows — he’s seriously not getting up at six, but he grudgingly gets up at six-thirty on training days — and some off-ice workouts that are specifically meant to help build muscle, Jared’s put on weight at a crazy pace, and in all the places the Oilers want him to.

In example one thousand of how Bryce is a way better person than Jared, when he catches Jared possibly…flexing at himself in the bathroom mirror, not only does he not mock the shit out of him, he just grins and says “Looking good, Matheson,”, then, “Think you can take me, yet?”

The answer is no, but it is crazy fun trying.

By the time development camp rolls around, Jared’s in the best shape of his life, and it’s transferring on and off the ice. He gets more than a few comments about his improvement when he’s down in Edmonton, and it’s not training camp, obviously, the pool of talent is different — though honestly considering how high the Oilers pick in the draft thanks to being, you know, terrible, the prospect pool’s pretty good — but he feels confident coming out of it. No guarantee he’ll make his NHL debut this season or anything — the Oilers are absolutely starved for centres, but they’re solid down the wings, comparatively — but he feels completely different about it than he did a year ago, and some of the existential anguish of being an Oiler has worn off. Not all of it — it’s the _Oilers_ — but he’s had over a year to get over it.

What he hasn’t gotten used to in the last year is the less existential angst of probably not living with Bryce during the season, and the summer seems to be burning itself out faster as it goes along: days packed training, both formal and what Arvan’s suggested in his off time; visits to his parents for dinner; a week Elaine comes into town; endless game marathons, the ones against Grace still devastating to his ego; Bryce’s birthday, which involves in Kanga and Roo being added to the stuffed animal crew and some ridiculously good birthday sex. No one rocks a blindfold like Bryce Marcus.

They wrap up training, Jared kind of glowing from the firm handshake and ‘good work’ Arvan gifts him with at the end of it. Raf heads back to Washington, but not before Chaz bullies him and Bryce and Jared into helping him move into a new apartment — not a sublet this time, so maybe he’s got a good feeling about staying up with the Flames — and Bryce starts doing a ridiculous amount of media, and Jared still hasn’t quite prepared for Edmonton. Well, physically, he’s better prepared than he’s ever been, but. 

The night before Jared leaves for camp is a hard one, and even though he needs to sleep, be rested for the drive down, prepared for the absolute wringer that he knows training camp is, they end up staying up way too late, not even like, doing anything, really, not fucking, or talking, just lying together, being in the same space, like they probably won’t be for awhile after this.

“Talk to me,” Bryce says, sometime past one. Maybe past two. Jared doesn’t know.

Jared doesn’t say ‘I don’t want to go’, because that’s pathetic, and honestly not even true, he doesn’t think. ‘I don’t want to leave you’ would be the more accurate one, he guesses, but that’s just stating the obvious. He presses his forehead against Bryce’s. They’re touching everywhere, tangled together, but it still doesn’t feel close enough. Jared would crawl inside Bryce if he could, wear Bryce around his neck like his ring. It’s on his ring finger right now, but it’ll be back on the chain tomorrow. Bryce keeps rubbing his thumb over it, like he’s thinking about that too. Jared kind of likes the thought of Bryce’s fingerprints all over it, invisible but undeniable.

“This bites,” Jared says, finally, and Bryce laughs a little.

“Yeah,” he says. “Sure you don’t want me to drive you?”

“You’ve got stuff to do tomorrow,” Jared says, and Bryce shrugs, like it doesn’t matter, he’d wave his hand and ditch all his responsibilities to drive Jared to Edmonton just to turn around and drive back. And he would, Jared knows, he’d do it without a thought if Jared even hinted he wanted that.

“Be hard to let you go home if you came along,” Jared says. “And the Oilers would be very confused if I dragged you into training camp with me.”

“Try: hyped to see someone actually good at hockey,” Bryce says.

“I don’t think you’d make it out alive,” Jared says. “And I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, I need you to die _after_ the wedding, or I won’t be filthy rich.” Bryce has remained extraordinarily stubborn on the subject of the pre-nup, even after a couple visits to a lawyer who maintained it was a perfectly normal thing to do when someone is a freaking _multi-millionaire_ , so Jared’s basically given up. It’s not his money. Well. Kind of, he guesses, if Bryce gets his way, but whatever.

“I promise not to die until after we get married,” Bryce says.

“Okay, holding you to that,” Jared says, eyes drifting shut before he blinks them open again. He’s exhausted, honestly, and they really do need to sleep, he just — he doesn’t want to.

“Sleep,” Bryce says, with as much reluctance as Jared feels.

“I know,” Jared says. “I just—”

“I’ll still be here in the morning,” Bryce says, but that’s the thing: he won’t be, after that. Or — he will, but Jared won’t.

“This bites,” Jared mumbles again.

“Yeah,” Bryce says, and this time he’s not laughing.


End file.
